Then the king promoted Shadrach, &c.— Or, "Restored them to their former places and dignities," according to the force of the original word. The LXX add at the end of the verse, And he advanced them to be governors over all the Jews who were in his kingdom.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, The king had, as we read in the former chapter, made a noble confession of the glory of Daniel's God; but the conviction is soon forgotten, and his attachment to idolatry prevails: and, as we too often see the dog return to his vomit again,
1. He erects a golden image of immense size, thirty yards high or upwards. At what time, or on what occasion, this was done, is not said.
2. A general summons is sent to all the magistrates, governors, and officers, civil, military, and religious, throughout his vast empire, to attend the dedication of this image; who instantly assembled, ready to obey the king's injunction.
3. A proclamation is made to all the vast assembly of the king's pleasure, that the moment they heard the burst of instruments of music collected on that occasion, to celebrate the praises of their deity, they should unanimously prostrate themselves before him, on penalty, in case of refusal, of being cast into a burning fiery furnace. Thus has the devil prepared every engine to seduce or compel the sinner into his service, both the soft blandishments of sense to allure, and fearful punishments threatened to extort a compliance.
4. All testified a ready submission. No sooner was the signal given than the adoring assembly are prostrate on the plain. When it is dangerous to be singular, and pleasure invites, few will hesitate about the consequences of yielding to the temptation.
2nd, We have,
1. The malicious accusation brought against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, for disobedience to the king's command. Instead of complying with such gross idolatry, they had resolved to endure any torments rather than commit so great a crime. Many had, no doubt, envied their advancement, and gladly embraced this occasion to ruin them. They therefore, with warmest wishes for his prosperity, address the king, as his most faithful and loyal subjects, who had the honour of his government most at heart, remind him of the decree that he had issued, and inform him of the disregard paid to it by these three men; a crime, they insinuate, aggravated by their ingratitude herein shewn for the favours which they had received, in being raised from captives to the highest posts of the state, and which, should they be overlooked in this their contempt of the king's commands, would reflect dishonour on his government, be of the worst consequence to the kingdom, and have a bad influence on the people. Daniel is not mentioned: it should seem he was absent, or too high in the king's favour to be meddled with.
2. The king, exasperated at the information, in a rage commands these men to be seized, and brought into his presence. With fury sparkling in his eyes, and terror in his voice, he demands of them an answer to the accusation, whether it was true; or, as the words may be rendered, Is it of purpose that you have done this, contumaciously, in defiance of my authority and in contempt of my gods? Once more he offers to prove them; if they will now comply to worship the golden image, all shall be well; if not, the furnace is ready, and they shall instantly be cast into the flames, from which he defies their God to save them. A dire alternative! to bow or burn. How thankful ought we to be, that we are not driven to this trying proof of our constancy; and that the fires, once kindled by popish idolaters in this land for the like purpose, are now extinguished!
3. With unshaken fortitude and sedateness of mind, they mildly unite in their reply, not reproaching him as tyrannical, but meekly resigning themselves up to God in the way of duty, and with deliberate courage determined to abide by their resolution, whatever the consequence might be. They seek no evasion, ask for no respite; for, where duty is plain, to deliberate is sinful, and to parley the prelude of compliance with the temptation, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. Carnal reason indeed might have suggested a thousand palliatives to excuse the sin; but, where God's commandment was so express, these gracious souls could not hesitate a moment whether they should obey God or man. They want no time to word their answer. They cannot, dare not, do it. Their lives were dear to them; but death, with all its terrors, cannot shake their steady souls: they are content by faith to commit their lives to his care who gave them, and can preserve them, if he pleases, in the burning fiery furnace, or deliver them from it. However, whether God was pleased miraculously to interpose for them or not, their purpose is fixed; they will not serve his gods nor worship his image. Note; (1.) In the way of duty we must never be careful about consequences. (2.) If we have true faith in God, it will cast out enslaving fear, and enable us in the day of trial to commit our all into his hand, confident that he will support us under our sufferings, or deliver us out of them. (3.) The way to be ready for the severest conflicts is daily to deny ourselves. They who first refused to eat of the king's meat, were now enabled to refuse to worship his gods.
3rdly, An answer so firm, and yet withal so sedate, might have been expected to have wrought some relentings in the tyrant's mind, especially after the confessions that himself had made of the glory of that God to whom they so faithfully adhered: but we see that it was quite otherwise.
1. The monarch, exasperated, with fury in his looks, like a fiend of darkness, as if the furnace should be the emblem of the rage with which his bosom burned, commanded it to be heated seven times hotter than usual; which, if his passion would have admitted of deliberation, he must have seen would be a favour, instead of an aggravation of the punishment, and serve but the sooner to dispatch these martyrs for the truth; but God over-ruled the tyrant's rage, to make his own glory more illustrious in their deliverance. In haste they are hurried to the flames, caught up, as they stood, in their clothes, bound by the mightiest men of Nebuchadnezzar's army, and cast into the fiery furnace; which, being so intensely heated, and the urgency of the king's command hurrying the men who bore them too near the mouth, the flame instantly slew them. A righteous judgment, it should seem, upon them who were the ready instruments of this tyrant's cruelty, and probably the very persons who had lodged the accusation against these children of the Most High. Note; (1.) Could men see their own countenances, when rage foams between their lips and flashes from their eyes, they would startle at themselves as devils in a human form. (2.) Terrible was this furnace: we cannot look into it without horror: yet here a moment would end the martyr's sufferings: but there is a fiercer fire kindled for sinners in hell, which tortures eternally, where death brings no relief, but the smoke of the torment ascendeth for ever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night. (3.) Persecutors of God's people may expect that he will avenge their wrongs.
2. God is pleased astonishingly to interpose for the rescue of his faithful servants. Struck with terror and astonishment at the death of his mighty warriors, the king hastily arose; and how great his surprise, when, in the midst of that furnace where the objects of his rage had fallen bound, he beholds four persons loose, walking unhurt in the midst of the flames! He calls his counsellors, asks them concerning the order for the execution of these men, and they declare it was punctually executed. He looks attentively on the sight: three of the persons are well known to him; the fourth he conceived to be like some heavenly messenger, a son of God; either one of the angelic host, or, which possibly he might have heard from Daniel, that uncreated angel of the covenant the Lord Christ, who had of old so often appeared to his people in a human form. Approaching then the mouth of the furnace, with high respect he now addresses those servants of the most high God whom he had treated so cruelly, and invites them by name to come forth: nor did they delay to obey him; and, to the astonishment of all those princes and governors who surrounded the king, walked out of the midst of the fire, with not a hair singed, nor so much as the smell of fire arising from them or their garments. Note; (1.) The afflictions into which God's faithful people are cast, resemble this furnace: far from being able to hurt them, they only consume the cords of corruption which fettered them, and set them more at liberty to walk with God; and the presence of Jesus in the midst of them not only prevents their trials from being painful, but enables them to count them all joy. (2.) They who are enabled confidently to trust in God, often experience wonderful deliverances. (3.) God will make those proud men, who have persecuted his people, bow at their feet, and know that he hath loved them. (4.) Every saved sinner comes into the presence of the eternal King, as these three worthies, a brand plucked out of the burning.
4thly, Struck with deep conviction by what he had beheld,
1. This mighty monarch adores the power and grace of that glorious God, whose wondrous interposition appeared in the deliverance of these his faithful servants. It now was evident, that no other god could deliver as he had done, and that his care and kindness never deserted those who steadily adhered to him in the hour of trial. Thus can God change the voice even of persecutors, and teach blasphemers to bless and praise.
2. He commends the courage and constancy of these three worthies, who dared contradict a king armed with fury, and, with a noble contempt of life, resolved to cleave to their own God, in the face of a fiery furnace, committing themselves with unshaken confidence into his hands. Note; (1.) A steady adherence to the cause of God and truth will often extort approbation even from enemies, while they who meanly desert their principles will only render themselves despicable even in the eyes of those who seduced them. (2.) When sin or death must be the alternative, we may emphatically say, to die is gain. (3.) They who are enabled to trust God, will assuredly prove true to him.
3. He issues an edict, forbidding, on the severest penalties, any of his subjects to speak any thing amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. As the Chaldeans had taken the Jews captives, they probably thought and spoke contemptuously and blasphemously of their God; which must have grieved exceedingly the faithful in Babylon: but now, though they are not converts to his worship, they are taught to think highly of his glory; since, by the confession of their king, none of their gods, not even their admired Bel, could deliver after this manner. Note; It is a mercy when the lips of adversaries are sealed up with conviction, though their hearts may be as far as ever from true conversion.
4. He highly promoted these three men in the province of Babylon: so that they received a present reward of their fidelity. For sometimes God gives in this world, to those who dare hazard all for his sake, an hundred fold, and in the world to come life everlasting.